Chapter 133

Eschatologist V

When I opened my eyes, leaving another death in my memories, I was in the waiting room of Busan

Station.

It would have been nice to say that the familiar 399 survivors came into view. However, even the waiting room of Busan Station was not spared from the chilling wind of mass layoffs. Only one person welcomed me this time.

“Ah, guild leader. You’re awake?”

“...Hmm.”

“Here’s some Ceylon tea. Have a drink when you get up.”

Go Yuri was sitting on a bench in the waiting room, and I was lying on the same bench.

At the time, I didn’t know, but there was a certain genre grammar in the world.

[The same bench] [One sitting] [One lying down]. When these three concepts combined, they always resulted in a certain inevitable outcome, transcending time and space.

Simply put, Go Yuri was giving me a lap pillow.

Her pink hair cascaded before my eyes like an acacia blossom. A subtle scent like bath salts and the sweet fragrance of apples freshly dipped in cold water wafted through the air.

“......”

I instinctively tried to get up but decided against it.

Perhaps it was because I had used the forbidden technique [Friend Shield] a little while ago. I felt a slight guilt. Surprisingly, there was still room in my heart for feelings of guilt towards Go Yuri.

Not that I could escape the presence before me anyway.

“Did I die?”

“Yes. And no.”

Go Yuri brushed her hair back behind her ear. Her hair swayed like bellflowers.Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com

“In terms of having died at the hands of the [Bad Ending], yes, you died. But it's hard to call it a true death. In a dream, one cannot truly die.”

“...Indeed.”

Even dying in this unconscious world wouldn’t trigger a ‘regression.’ My real self was still sleeping soundly surrounded by the Tutorial Fairies.

It was good information.

“How did you escape? The enemy seemed impossible to fight against.”

“Well, if I tried to fight like you, it would have been difficult. But I don't necessarily oppose such beings. I can escape easily.”

Of course. Hail to the brainwashing beam.

I sighed.

“That old man, he was too powerful.”

“......”

“They say that in this unconscious world, one’s greatest fears are reflected. Right. In truth, I was afraid of the old man.”

It wasn’t that I had an aversion to Emit Schopenhauer as an individual. He was my comrade.

It’s just that...

“If the old man hadn’t gone on vacation and had stayed by my side, what would have happened... I’ve imagined that a few times.”

IF. A what-if scenario.

The route where Old Man Scho didn’t go on vacation.

“Old Man Scho has a gentle heart. Even if he hadn’t gone on vacation, his love and despair for his wife would have continued to nest in his heart. If he had forced himself to endure that and still stood by my side to save the world...”

Wouldn’t he have broken at some point?

There were plenty of dangerous moments.

For instance, when we exterminated the Outer God Infinite Void. Infinite Void shows people the ‘most perfect world line’ as an illusion.

Of course, Old Man Scho would have been immersed in days of happiness with his wife.

While I managed to break free from Dang Seo-rin, Noh Do-hwa, and the Saintess, could Old Man Scho have escaped?

Wouldn’t he have fallen as a new apostle of Infinite Void?

For example, when it was revealed that the Tutorial Fairy was actually a Baku. Negotiating with the Baku could manipulate dreams as desired.

That too would have been a hard temptation for Old Man Scho to resist.

For example, when the being before us took a real ‘interest’ in Old Man Scho.

Like the nightmare we just faced, wouldn’t Old Man Scho, deluded into thinking he had reunited with his wife, become a villain acting only for Go Yuri?

The best comrade turning into the worst enemy.

A common trope.

“Considering all that, maybe it was a divine move for him to go on vacation and leave with his wife.”

“......”

“A problem in death, a problem in life. Seriously, that old man was no help at all.”

The waiting room was silent.

As if hundreds, thousands of years had flowed by in an instant, weeds sprouted from the cracks in the floor. Through the holes in the roof and ceiling, the aged sunlight dripped like candle wax.

Go Yuri didn’t respond.

She just listened to my story with a troubled smile, as if this 'silent listening' was the form of comfort I desired most at the moment.

“Guild leader.”

No matter how successful or talented a person is, continuous adaptation to new eras is necessary. It would be absurd to claim, “Hey everyone! This is the most popular genre literature these days!” while bringing out the Epic of Gilgamesh now.

“I originally planned to train the old man like crazy if he returned. With his talent, I thought about lightly training him for about 200 years so he could at least be useful.”

“Hehe.”

“But here in the unconscious world, we have such a great answer sheet provided.”

Go Yuri tilted her head.

“Answer sheet?”

Yes. An answer sheet.

I was ready to face Old Man Scho’s Bad Ending, the Fallen Alter version, also known as the Sword Demon, again.

Like last time, the Sword Demon was wandering the scorched city of Seoul. Dragging an utterly unglamorous construction steel pipe.

As usual, wasn’t he the one swallowing up all the elegance and dignity of the awakened ones?

For the sake of preserving the dignity and character of the awakened, it was inevitable that I, the Undertaker, had to step in.

I took a deep breath.

Then exhaled with all my might.

“Hey, you National Socialist German Workers’ Party member bastard!”

“......”

Freeze—

A racial hate speech, which would make a well-educated German (excluding the 1930s) have a seizure, echoed loudly.

By the way, the National Socialist German Workers' Party, commonly known as NSDAP, was better known by its alias among the awakened ones. Nazis.

Incidentally, Old Man Scho was a person who voted for the Social Democratic Party of Germany from birth until the day the world ended. His blood was quite red.

Germany had produced both Karl Marx and Adolf Hitler. In other countries, the battle between fascists and communists might be a simple ideological struggle, but in Germany, it was compounded with feelings of ethnic hatred.

Even if one falls into being an anomaly, a true revolutionary fighter never betrays their ideology.

“Look at this!”

Flutter.

I shook an old banner.

“.......”

The Sword Demon’s focus wavered wildly upon seeing the symbol majestically depicted on the banner.

卍.

Though it was just a Buddhist symbol in the East, no Occidentalist could comprehend the profound teachings of Buddha.

The DNA of ‘Ka’ dormant in Old Man Scho’s blood began an allergic overreaction to the sound of ‘Ad.’

“Uuurgh!”

The German-born super-communist Swordmaster howled. If only his aura had been red, it would have been perfect.

But its power was undeniable.

True to the protocol to destroy the old and outdated world from its inception, Old Man Scho’s swordplay—or rather, pipe-play—destroyed the city in an instant.

However, the Sword Demon’s hand, aiming to cut me down, suddenly hit the brakes.

“...! ...!”

Where the Sword Demon’s aura was heading, there were statues made of clay.

Busts of ‘Karl Marx’ and ‘Rosa Luxemburg’!

The Sword Demon hesitated like a bugged NPC. His expression was like a Japanese Kirishitan ordered to step on a Jesus plaque to prove he wasn’t a Christian.

Indeed, to the German-born old man, those two statues were like the holy icons of Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

If he swung his sword left, Marx would be destroyed, and if he attacked right, Luxemburg would be ruined.

“Ugh, uuurgh...!”

My preparations didn’t end there.

Just in case, I had displayed all the busts of German leftist politicians I knew: Kurt Schumacher, Willy Brandt, Wilhelm Pieck, Walter Ulbricht, and so on.

Regardless of which faction Old Man Scho supported (though I wasn’t interested in German politics, unifying the leftist factions was an illusion and an anomaly in itself), one of them would surely get him!

Yes.

I, the Undertaker, had spent a week hanging around Busan Station’s waiting room just to show this.

Thanks to all the pointless efforts during every vacation cycle, my sculpting skills were quite impressive.

“Does the old man think he’s the only one who can do domain expansion? This is my domain expansion.”

“Uuurgh...”

“I’ve hidden statues all over this city like mines. Come forth, my unique barrier. The revolutionary space of red massacre.”

“Uuuuurgh!”

Come, old communist.

Cry and prove your (ideological) purity.

Footnotes:

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